August 2025

Constraints are absolutely critical to my own creative process, and I’m more accepting than I used to be of process being part of (or maybe all of) what a creative work is about, as opposed to merely being a means to an end. So I can appreciate the bargain at the heart of origami: A sculptural form is created entirely from folding a single square of paper, with no other materials involved.

I do, however,… See more →

• Anna von Hausswolff: Stardust
  The Anna von Hausswolff that made me a fan wielded her pipe organ as a powerful agent of ambient, drone, and doom. On paper, the notion of her veering into pop territory would have been a no-go for me, but clearly my doubts were misplaced, as this has quickly become one of my favorite songs of the year so far.
• That Dog: Ms. Wrong
  I can’t believe this song is 30… See more →

Even if I’ve never been all that interested in the records that came after The Downward Spiral, a Nine Inch Nails show is always an event, so I had been keeping an eye on tickets for this one. By the day of the show, even the available cheap seats were not quite cheap enough for this cheapskate, but at the eleventh hour, a friend materialized with an extra ticket, and I came to my senses.… See more →

When Fire Walk with Me came out, everyone hated it, and now everyone loves it, and I’m the guy in the middle.

I don’t mind so much that it doesn’t really offer any details on Laura Palmer’s final days that weren’t already covered in Twin Peaks, and I appreciate that it gives us the chance to directly empathize with Laura’s perspective for the first time. But I’ve always found her more compelling as a spectral… See more →

Weapons has a good summer mystery/thriller premise—an entire class of third graders disappears individually from their homes one night—and thankfully the grating little-kid voiceover filling in the backstory gets out of the way soon enough. What follows is a master class in Magnolia-style nonlinear plotting, with a variety of character POVs across the same timeline unfolding one by one, each new angle making the mystery weirder, scarier, and—crucially—funnier.

As this is not some Lynchian… See more →

• Mazowsze: Dwa serduszka
  Cold War, “a broken love story about broken people in a broken country,” is one of my favorite films of the last decade, and among all the great music it packs into its relatively short runtime, this mournful traditional Polish tune about a doomed love affair intentionally stands out. I’m partial to this choral version, but there’s also a great jazz version sung by Joanna Kulig later in the film.
• Pat Benatar:… See more →

Not a packed show, but well-attended by scene afficionados, as I noticed members of Baroness, Pentagram, Pharaoh, and Sonya in the audience. Also cool to spot Ben Brower (formerly of The Stuntmen) in Breakker! Tower crushed. Definitely the best way I could have spent this particular Sunday evening in Philadelphia.

• Gillian Welch: Annabelle
  My buddy’s sister is Gillian Welch’s lone full-time employee, handling merch and various other odds and ends. (She also plays drums in a ripping all-girl Rage Against the Machine tribute band in Nashville). I’ve been a casual fan since the ’90s, so when they came through NYC awhile back, I got to tag along and briefly meet Gillian and David Rawlings backstage before the show. We had great seats too!
• Andrew W.K.:… See more →

• The Pazant Brothers & The Beaufort Express: A Gritty Nitty
  It’s a testament to the amount of quality material produced in funk’s heyday that these guys are footnotes at best. I dare you to try sitting still while listening to this.
• Shannon: Let the Music Play
  “Let the Music Play” is the standard-bearer for freestyle, a genre I strongly associate with my early adolescent roller rink days in the late ’80s. I’m sure the DJ… See more →

• Faith No More: Let’s Lynch the Landlord
  Faith No More had a strong cult following for many years before and after “Epic,” their surprise 1990 hit, including a long list of singles that got regular rotation on 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball, but this cover of Dead Kennedys’ “Let’s Lynch the Landlord” is perhaps lesser known even among the band’s diehard fans. It was recorded for a compilation celebrating the 100th release from DK’s label,… See more →